Three vehicles seized in rural crime crackdown

Police seized three vehicles as part of an operation targeting rural crime in the north of the county.

Officers ran a vehicle check site in Carnforth as part of Operation Firecrest, a force-wide initiative to crack down on criminals operating in rural areas of the county.

Two vehicles were found to have no insurance and were seized by police. Another was found to be running on red diesel.

Insp Jim Edmonds, Morecambe police, said: “Crime is generally low in rural areas but criminals can try to take advantage of the remoteness of some communities, believing they may not be seen as they carry out their illegal activities.

“As has been shown during this operation, we are committed to tackling rural crime. Every rural area has a dedicated neighbourhood policing team, responsible for working with local communities to prevent and detect crime.

“We are also working with partners like the National Farmers Union and Trading Standards to target criminals.”

“Rural communities have a vital role to play in helping us to prevent and detect crime.

“We run FarmWatch and RuralWatch schemes that allow us to send out alerts via text and email and we would encourage residents to sign up to these schemes.

“We also want people to ring in when they see something suspicious so that action can be taken quickly if a crime is being committed.”

Anybody who would like to speak to an officer to discuss concerns about rural crime or report suspicious activity that they have seen and not yet reported, should contact local police on 101.

Anyone who would like advice on how to reduce the risk of crime can view a special crime prevention clip on the Lancashire Police Youtube channel: http://bit.ly/QzNj9S.